Google just 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 online journalism Google has unveiled a new 𝐀𝐈-𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐥 of Search that's designed not to return traditional links, but instead to plant users into an interactive experience that uses 'agents' to gather content from pages to answer questions and resolve searches. The evolution 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬, going 'beyond autocomplete' and helping them search deeper than what they might have originally been capable of doing. In an article from 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡: '𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳, 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 “𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴” 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 24/7 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘣 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴.' Put simply, this means that 𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 will need to use Google to access sites anymore, as, instead, AI will deliver them the information they need at the push of a button. We've already seen Google's search algorithm and presentation changes bring a swift end to some sites in recent months, but this is a very realistic final nail in the industry's coffin. It's impossible to see a world now where Google can effectively drive traffic to sites, formally eradicating 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐄𝐎 and actively threatening what must be 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 of jobs. Awful, awful news. #Google #Journalism #Gaming #SEO #Tech
To be fair, SEO was already a pretty flawed system - it rewarded not quality of content, but focused on (simple) tricks to beat the mechanics of search and also promote bad content, but tailored to get hits. It actively promoted bad content and never really helped journalists and content producers. That said, yes, the news industry had years, decades to think about models to survive and not depend entirely of Google and (other) search engines and social media clicks (leading to clickbait, helping the spread of fake news, but that's another story). It failed to find any viable solution and now it'll pay the price - again. Or rather us, journalists will pay the price, because media owners are rich enough to survive without their toys. I recently wrote an article for The Bookseller warning the publishing industry not to repeat the same errors of the news industry. Let's hope they can save themselves. Full article: https://www.thebookseller.com/comment/beware-platform-dependency
Yep - sadly, nothing new here; all part of Google's Masterplan to kill off the Open Web and keep users on their platforms ('search' and Discover).
Um, there's more than a little irony in this post that there's no link to the *actual TechCruch article* for anyone to use and to deliver the site actual traffic. It'd be funny if it wasn't so disheartening. And I have no affiliation with the site at all. Anyone interesting in not killing journalism really should be mindful of this. https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
Is any body able to stop this? What are the consequences for our democracies if we just stand watching? Will our civil rights even exist if the watchdog of Journalism is no longer there to hold power accountable? Will we be able to react before is too late?
Where does Google expect to pull info from when no one writes anymore because all of the money has been sucked from journalism. Wait, I do know...Reddit
I've spent some time in SEO land and the one thing I admired was that it at least mirrored how humans search and analyze information -- identify the reputable sources, corroborate the evidence, reach a conclusion. I fear what will be lost in critical thinking skills if an AI engine skips straight to the conclusion stage.
Who’s it going to take the info from when it kills all the websites?
As a young journalist I think it’s important for us to turn to other mediums for journalism. While traditional online journalism is being taken over we can fight back by moving content to video and social media sites.
My first thought us - how does Google not get sued by every website that has been scraped but does not receive actual traffic?
I don't get where it'll pull the information from if nobody has a job to give it info lol